


refuge

by thegaywardens



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Cuddling, Found Family, Gen, M/M, Non-Sexual Intimacy, it's been years since i posted anything on here i don't remember how to tag things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-09
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2019-03-29 06:02:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13920903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegaywardens/pseuds/thegaywardens
Summary: I'm writing for the first time in years. I've missed it, but I'm super rusty at it. This is anything but my best work but I'm using Widomauk as an excuse to slowly ease myself back into writing. I missed it a lot.





	refuge

**Author's Note:**

> I'm writing for the first time in years. I've missed it, but I'm super rusty at it. This is anything but my best work but I'm using Widomauk as an excuse to slowly ease myself back into writing. I missed it a lot.

 Caleb is the first to retire for the evening. He slinks away quickly, muttering a few words about sleep. It goes by mostly unnoticed, the group chatting and drinking loudly, though Molly takes note.

 

 After a few minutes of deliberation, Molly finishes downing his drink and follows. He quietly excuses himself from the table. He's paid about as much mind as Caleb had been.

  
 When he reaches the door to the room Caleb and Nott are sharing, he hesitates, wondering if Caleb should be left alone. He pushes aside his second thoughts: if Caleb doesn't want him there, he can send him away. He knocks lightly on the door.

 

 "Who is it?" Caleb's voice is muffled from the other room.

 

 "Molly."

 

 "It's unlocked."

 

 Molly gingerly pushes the door open and closes it behind himself, softly walking into the room.

 

 Caleb is sitting on the bed, knees pulled up to his chest, looking off into the distance. He wears almost the same look he does when seeing through Frumpkin's eyes. Beside him, the cat in question is curled up and pressed into his leg, purring.  
 

"Is something the matter?" He asks, looking up at Mollymauk, concern in his eyes.

 

 "No, no. Don't worry, Nott's okay." Molly says, answering the unspoken question. "It's you I'm worried about."

 

 Caleb looks away and starts petting Frumpkin. "I'm fine."

 

 Molly slowly approaches the bed, "I'm getting the idea it might be good for you to not be alone right now."  
 It has been over a week since the mines, since Alfield, but the haunted look in Caleb's eyes comes back often. Where Molly can't remember anything, Caleb remembers everything.

 

 Molly doesn't know what it is Caleb remembers. He doesn't need to know and he has little desire to, though he would listen if Caleb told him. He would listen to anything Caleb told him.

 

 "May I?" He asks, gesturing to the bed.

 

 "Sure."

 

 Molly takes a moment to remove his swords and wrap them in his coat, placing them on the ground. He sits down at the side of the bed, careful to give Caleb enough space and not crowd him.

 

 "I can go if you want, but I think you need to not be alone right now." He says, repeating his earlier words.

 

 "Yeah. Yeah, okay." Caleb says. "I want you to... stay, I guess. Please?" He finally looks up again, and the look on his face makes Molly's heart want to break in two. Caleb could give him that look and ask him to do anything, and Molly would do it. He has barely known the other man for a few weeks, and already he is so weak to him.

 

 "I'll stay as long as you need." He promises, taking the invitation to scoot further up the bed, sitting beside Caleb, on the opposite side as Frumpkin

 "Do you want to talk?"

 

 Caleb shakes his head. "I'd rather not, if that's okay."

 

 "It's okay. We can just sit." He leans back against the headboard beside Caleb, putting an arm around him, slow enough to give Caleb a chance to push him away if he's uncomfortable with the contact. When Caleb makes no move to draw away or resist, Molly presses into him slightly, wrapping his arm tight around him. He leans over and presses a soft kiss into Caleb's temple. Unlike their last kiss, he lets his lips linger, draws it out a bit. He moves a hand to brush his fingers through Caleb's unkept hair, privately glad that it had finally been cleaned. 

 

 He pulls back, but before he can go far, Caleb grabs him by the coat and drags him back down, looking up at him.

 

 Their eyes meet briefly and Molly's heart feels like it lodges itself in his throat; he knows the look in Caleb's eyes and know what's about to happen. He hadn't come to Caleb's room with an ulterior motive, honest. It would have been tacky as hell and maybe a little insensitive to use Caleb's pain to get close to him.  
 But Molly isn't about to complain as Caleb leans up and presses his lips into Molly's. He certainly isn't going to let that stop him from kissing him back, sinking his fingers into Caleb's hair and pulling gently, or nibbling on Caleb's bottom lip to deepen the kiss. 

 

 Molly pulls Caleb gently into his lap and Caleb settles there like he is meant to sink right into Molly's embrace. Frumpkin protests as his human is pulled away from him. 

 

 Eventually, they separate for air. Caleb doesn't look at Molly, but instead buries his head in the crook of Molly's neck, shaking. Molly cradles him silently, stroking his hair and his back.

 

 Still, Caleb shakes, and Molly feels something wet on his neck. Caleb's crying. Molly swallows a lump in his throat. He isn't good with crying. He isn't good with this. What do you say to people who are crying? He was okay with kids, he knew how to handle Toya's tears, but adults are another matter entirely.  
 He doesn't know what to say, so he says nothing, just holds Caleb there, rocking him gently, pressing soft, reassuring kisses into his hair. Over time, the shaking evens out, and the sobs that wrack Caleb's body slow and eventually stop. Molly holds him through it, and after a while he realizes that Caleb is asleep, breathing evenly.

 

 Gingerly, Molly lays the two of them down, Molly on his back and Caleb pressed into his side, he pulls the covers over them, careful not to wake the sleeping man. When they are settled in, Frumpkin makes himself comfortable on the pillow above Caleb's head, and next to Molly's, purring softly. Molly smiles at the cat and gave him a few chin scratches, before closing his own eyes.

 

* * *

 

 Molly hears the door creak open an hour later. He hadn't been able to follow Caleb's example and fall asleep so instead, he has been staring at the ceiling, focusing on the motion of Caleb's breathing against his chest, and trying to ignore Frumpkin's snoring in his ear.

 

 He looks up as much as he can without disturbing either of his bedmates, and sees Nott standing in the doorway, staring, light from the hallway flooding in behind her. Her face goes from surprised to confused to disappointed as she meets his eyes.

 

 "O-oh." She says, nervously wringing her hands as she looked at him. "Um, I'm sorry for disturbing you. I'll just go now."

 

 "Nonsense!" Molly speaps up before she has the chance to dart away. "This is your room, come on." He gestures for her to come in.

 

 "O... kay." She says, shutting the door behind her and making her way to the bed. She climbs up, still hesitant. "I'm not intruding, am I?" she asks, nervously.

 

 "Of course not, Dear." He reassures her, understanding her hesitation. "If anything, I'm the one intruding. Are you okay with me being here?"

 

 She nods and sits at the edge of the bed. "Is he okay?"

 

 "For now." Molly says. "But I think we all need some sleep, don't you agree?"

 

 Nott nods, looking around for a place on the bed she could curl up. It's a little cramped at the moment.

 

 Molly raises an arm in offering. "If you're okay with it, you can sleep right here."

 

 "Okay." She says, slowly tucking herself into Molly's side. He can feel her hesitation, but she slowly relaxes into his touch.

 

 "He cares about you, you know." He says, once she's settled in. "I think you're the closest thing he's had to family in a long time."

 

 Nott nods beside him. "I-I know." After a moment, "You're family, too, you know. I know you haven't been around long but. He likes you, a lot. I can tell."

 

 Molly's heart swells in a way he doesn't want to think about, so he just ruffles Nott's hair and sinks back into the bed.  
 Soon enough, Nott is snoring, and sleep finds Molly not long after. 


End file.
